Effects of Firm-Level Entrepreneurship Orientation on Digital Transformation in SMEs: The Moderating Role of Strategic Agility

Abstract The study investigates the effects of firm-level entrepreneurship orientation (EO) dimensions of innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness on digital transformation (DT) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) while considering their interactions with the organization’s strategic agility. The study hypothesizes that all three firm-level EO dimensions are positively associated with DT within SMEs and that strategic agility positively moderates this effect. The study’s data came from a survey of 122 Saudi SMEs, where digitalization has recently emerged as a potential approach to transforming SMEs. The data analysis results from Smart PLS 3.0 provide complete support for the hypotheses. The study is one of the first to investigate the firm-level EO in the context of DT and provides implications for strategizing the SME’s DT by capitalizing on the firm’s EO intensity. As a result, the study contributes to entrepreneurship and management research vis-à-vis the current digitalization discourse.